Golden Ventures launches platform to connect Canadian talent

Toronto-based venture firm Golden Ventures has launched a new platform aimed at exposing more opportunities in the Canadian tech ecosystem.

Dubbed Prospect, the platform is meant to help attract Canadian talent in several buckets: foreign talent seeking job opportunities in Canada, and homegrown talent looking for an overview of opportunities available in their fields. Prospect includes a job board that aggregates postings from third-party company career pages and also offers city-by-city profiles to provide perspective on local markets. So far, its launch partners include several VC firms like iNovia, Panache Ventures, and Leaders Fund, as well as hubs like #MoveTheDial and Techstars.

“When it comes to talent, a rising tide lifts all boats.”

As Canada becomes a more attractive hub for tech companies like Google, Microsoft, and Uber—and more Canadian startups are scaling—Golden Ventures saw an opportunity to help global talent see what’s happening.

“When it comes to talent, a rising tide lifts all boats. Accelerating the growth of Canadian startups can’t be done in isolation—it needs to be a collaborative effort from the community,” said Marianne Bulger, head of people and platform at Golden Ventures. Bulger led the creation of the hub. “We saw an opportunity to give Canada a competitive advantage on the global stage by creating a powerful tool that has the potential to reach every corner of our ecosystem.”

The venture firm hopes to add an immigration guide and a talent network for executive-level job seekers to connect with hiring managers directly. Functioning as a non-profit, job postings are free.

“We consistently hear from CEOs, executives, and other investors that hiring is the biggest problem for scaling companies, and it’s no secret that Canada needs more tech companies to scale,” said Ameet Shah, partner at Golden Ventures. “This is about creating liquidity in the talent marketplace. The ecosystem needs more experienced talent to become mobile and share the growth playbooks with early-stage companies. We also need an injection of global talent from other ecosystems where hundreds of companies have achieved scale.”